Nintendo seems to be taking its upcoming console, currently code-named the NX, very seriously. The video game company has just purchased a 70 percent stake in Jesnet, one of the largest console distributors in Japan, for $46.5 million.
In an official statement, Nintendo said Jesnet is now a Nintendo subsidiary. Jesnet will also take over wholesale distribution of video game hardware from Ajioka. Jesnet and Ajioka are the largest distributors of gaming hardware in Japan. On Jesnet’s official site, it shows that much, if not all, the product it distributes is from Nintendo. Now that Jesnet has taken over all of Ajioka’s hardware distribution, this will put Nintendo in charge of its hardware distribution in Japan.
“This means that Nintendo will have an integrated system from the development through supply of its products, allowing for rapid decision-making and an improvement in sales service” said the company in its statement. “These steps are intended to strengthen the overall competitiveness of the Nintendo group and increase its corporate value.”
With this deal, Nintendo has now more vertically integrated its supply chain, allowing it to more efficiently get product to store shelves and also increase profitability.
Nintendo is set to release its new console next year. The NX is currently rumored to be a handheld/console hybrid. Like former Nintendo systems, it will use cartridges. Considering flash memory has not only gotten cheaper, but faster and able to hold more data, a handheld would seem to make sense. Graphically, the system is rumored to be more powerful than the Wii U, but not quite as powerful as the PlayStation 4. This is because it might use the Nvidia Tegra X2, a chip that’s based on Pascal and meant for more mobile applications.
The deal will become official at the beginning of the next fiscal year, April 3, 2017.
Acer’s Predator Atlas 8 finally has a US release date and price, several months after the company first showed off the handheld in May. The highlight is the Intel Arc G3 Extreme chip inside, which has been adopted by only a couple of other consoles besides the Atlas 8. This version will go on sale exclusively at Best Buy on November 1 for $1,299.99.
Acer originally said the Atlas 8 would arrive in North America in October, but left pricing open at the time. The launch came amid the ongoing DRAM crunch, which has made memory more expensive across the PC industry and complicated pricing for hardware makers.
Gaming laptops and I have a complicated relationship. One of my first gaming rigs was an Acer Predator that was already outdated when I bought it. I was a broke college kid, and that was the best I could afford. So trying out high-end gaming laptops is always fun. But ASUS' ROG Zephyrus G14 is a lot more than a laptop that can run AAA games. It is portable, so you're not lugging around a 2.5kg machine everywhere you go. It is built well, none of that plastic chassis, and can even function as a normal laptop outside of just gaming.
Google Play is borrowing one of the Nintendo Switch’s most useful little tricks. A new Sidekick tool called Playbacks captures a short clip after something interesting has already happened, sparing players from running a screen recorder throughout an entire game.
Playbacks is part of Google Play Store v53.8 and keeps saved clips on the phone. Google first announced it earlier this month, but the new Play Store update marks its arrival for players. Anyone who has watched a perfect win vanish because the record button came too late already understands the appeal.